Google TV Gives Web Developers Their Oprah Moment

Google has started to notify members of its Google Code developer community that they’re eligible to receive a free Logitech Revue Google TV unit, Mobiture is reporting (hat tip to GtvHub). The search giant announced last week that it would give away a total of 10,000 Google TV set-top boxes. It already handed out 3,000 devices to attendees of the Adobe Max conference, and has reserved another 4,500 for Google Code members.

A final batch of 2,500 units will be given to developers who applied to a special promotion, which has since ended. All of these units are reserved for US-based developers, since Google TV hasn’t launched anywhere else yet. Mobiture writer Ryan Bates said that he was asked to provide his U.S. mailing address, and told that he’ll receive the unit two to three weeks after November 11.

This isn’t the first time Google has given away hardware to developers to promote its platform. The company has been handing out Android phones to every attendant of its Google I/O conference for the last two years.

One notable difference is that those giveaways were geared towards app development. Google is specifically addressing web developers this time around, because Google TV won’t have access to the Android Marketplace until early 2011. One can expect that app developers will see a similar giveaway once the platform is ready for them.